


katabasis

by nebulia



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Meet-Cute, Nonbinary Character, Other, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:08:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26674933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebulia/pseuds/nebulia
Summary: Something to report, or the Gatekeeper meets a kindred spirit.
Relationships: Abysskeeper/Gatekeeper (Fire Emblem), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 22





	katabasis

**Author's Note:**

> the abysskeeper is nonbinary because this way i could use pronouns to keep them straight and didn't have to give them noncanonical names, and also more big burly nbs need to exist in the world.
> 
> flayn & seteth are mentioned so i guess this takes place in ss, am, or vw
> 
> i refuse to apologize for any of this, up to and including the mentioned yuriashe.

He comes down to Abyss not because he hears the drinks are good, but because he hears they’re cheap, and war does not pay well. Technically he’s still in the Church’s employ, but Seteth is paying people with items from the vault, and selling them is proving to be a real challenge. But Flayn gave him more fresh Noa fruit than he knows what to do with in exchange for a Fódlandy he caught the other day, and Balthus told him that everyone in Abyss will barter well for fresh fruit, so...cheap shitty drinks it is. 

He enters Abyss and comes face-to-face with a burly rogue in a facsimile of a guard uniform; taller and more built than he is, but with an earnest face under their helmet. 

“Hey, you,” the guard says. “I’ve got something to report.”

“Really?” he asks eagerly. “I never have anything to report!” 

This is, technically speaking, not true. It  _ is  _ war. But everyone knows that, and he tries not to gossip too much.

“There’s an archer from up in the monastery,” the guard says. “One of the old students. He’s been coming down a lot to visit the Mockingbird.” He has to pick his own brain a little to remember that the ‘Mockingbird’ is Yuri, but just because he never has anything to report doesn't mean he doesn’t  _ know  _ things. 

An archer...that would be Ashe, who vanishes into Abyss pretty often for someone who doesn’t live there. Especially because Hapi told him Yuri stares at Ashe like he hung the moon during all the strategy meetings. 

“Why don’t you ever have anything to report?” the guard asks. “I always have something to report. Mostly to the professor.”

“I’m the Gatekeeper up top, you know?” he says. “It’s war. I’m at the gate. If an army was coming up the pass the skywatch would see them first, and everyone else already knows we’re at war. There’s just not much else new to say, is there? Except gossip.” He leans in. “Are you the Gatekeeper down here?” 

The guard coughs, cheeks pinking a little under their stubble. “Abysskeeper,” they say. “I’m the Abysskeeper. And gossip is always something to report, ain’t it?” 

“Maybe  _ now _ ,” he says. “But before Lady Rhea got pretty upset about it. Old habits, you know.” 

“I s’pose,” the Abysskeeper says. “Why’re you down here anyway, if you work up top?”

He opens his bag of Noa fruit. “Flayn--you know Flayn, right? She’s always coming down to the library down here, she says--she gave me this she picked in exchange for a fish I caught. Heard the drinks would be cheap.” 

The Abysskeeper’s eyes go wide at the bag of fruit. “Is this all  _ fresh _ ?” they say.

“Picked two days ago,” he says. “Flayn’s not exactly a liar.” 

The Abysskeeper’s smile is fond, so he knows they’re good people. “No, she’s not.” 

“You want one?” he asks. 

“Heard you were gonna get some drinks,” the Abysskeeper says. 

He rubs the back of his neck. “Well, yeah, but...solidarity, you know? Keeper solidarity. You get the first pick.” His cheeks are getting hot, but the Abysskeeper blushes too. It emboldens him enough to say, “Take two!” His voice cracks a little as he does, and he cringes. 

The Abysskeeper does, and points the direction to the inn. “One last thing to report,” they say when they send him. “The drinks are shitty as fuck.”

\--

The drinks were as bad as advertised, so he leaves the inn not long after he entered, tipsy but not as drunk as he’d like to be in the middle of a war. The Abysskeeper’s still standing guard, two Noa pits next to their feet. 

“Hey, you,” they say. “Gatekeeper. I’ve got something to report.”

“What’s that?” he says. 

“The Noa fruit was the best thing I’ve had in days,” they say.

“I’ve got something to report, too,” he says, and thrills a little at the words, since he so rarely gets to say them. He holds out his bag, with a few fruit left in it, a little bruised from being at the bottom of the bag but still edible, the perfect ripeness. “I have a few left.”

The Abysskeeper can’t leave their post, but he sits on the stairs and lean against the wall next to them while the two of them split the last of the fruit. The fruit runs out before the conversation does.

“You shared those with me because keeper solidarity?” the Abysskeeper says. 

He blushes again. “Well,” he says. “Not  _ just  _ because of that,” and when he stands, finds the courage to lean up and kiss the Abysskeeper on the cheek, before saluting sharply and leaving.

When Byleth drops by the next day, he  _ definitely _ has something to report. 

**Author's Note:**

> Flayn sneaking into the shadow library is a permanent headcanon.
> 
> I'm on twitter at @coaIsack
> 
> comments and kudos for this nonsense are ESPECIALLY appreciated.


End file.
